South Africa COVID-19 PPE audit: what happened next

What the audit found

AGSA began real-time audits in May 2020 and tabled its first national and provincial special report on 2 September 2020 ³. The health-sector review focused on needs analysis, ordering, price compliance, delivery and payment for PPE ¹.

The first report listed about R2.13 billion in health-sector PPE spending from voted funds by 31 July 2020, based on unaudited accounting data. Gauteng accounted for about R1.37 billion in that table ¹.

Testing identified orders above National Treasury price limits in several provinces. Examples included masks in Gauteng priced 565% above the listed limit and gloves in North West priced 502% above the listed limit. These were audit comparisons of orders, not criminal findings ¹.

The auditors tested 116 health-sector contracts worth R2.214 billion and recorded specification gaps, weak goods-receipt controls, items accepted that differed from orders and other supply chain failures ¹. The second special report expanded the real-time work and was tabled on 9 December 2020 ^2,3.

The official response

Accounting officers told AGSA they would add compliance checks before orders and payments, centralise some procurement and strengthen pharmaceutical purchasing controls. The first report recorded separate corrective actions by affected provincial departments ¹.

The later AGSA summary said control improvements reduced some payment and grant errors. It recorded supplier contact, corrected under-deliveries and recoveries in some cases where PPE prices exceeded Treasury limits ³.

The official response varied by institution. Parliament recorded that one department, Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, had no finding against its PPE transactions in the first audit work then available ⁸.

Parliament

The Standing Committee on Public Accounts received an SIU progress briefing on 1 September 2021. The committee recorded that investigations were still under way and that the SIU was working with police, the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority ⁴.

At a later briefing on the SIU's sixth progress report, Parliament recorded 5,054 contracts worth R14.8 billion under investigation across 2,686 service providers. The committee pressed for better use of supplier restrictions and referrals ⁵.

Finance committees had earlier heard from National Treasury on 5 August 2020 about emergency procurement instructions and monthly disclosure of PPE procurement above R1 million ⁹.

Follow-up audits and recommendations

AGSA continued the work in its normal 2020 to 2021 audits after the two special reports. It recorded six material irregularities tied to uneconomic COVID-19 procurement, mainly PPE, and estimated financial loss across all unresolved material irregularities at R11.9 billion ¹⁰. That R11.9 billion figure covers more than PPE ¹⁰.

AGSA said auditees had taken steps to investigate irregularities, recover losses and impose consequences. It cited corrected education-sector deliveries and some recovery where prices exceeded Treasury limits ³.

No single follow-up report closing every PPE recommendation, investigation and recovery across all provinces was found as of 19 October 2026.

Courts, tribunals and investigations

The Special Tribunal froze R38.7 million in August 2020 in litigation concerning a Gauteng Health PPE contract. The order preserved funds during the SIU case and did not by itself decide criminal guilt ⁷.

The Tribunal later ordered 21 respondents in that matter to forfeit money to the state, according to its official statements page ⁶. Other judgments reached different results on their own records. In a Free State PPE case, the SIU abandoned part of the relief after not making out a case on the wider procurement ¹¹.

The SIU final report on matters released in February 2021 recorded both adverse and favourable outcomes. For one Free State mask supplier, it found the emergency deviations were motivated and authorised and the applicable Treasury instructions were followed ¹².

Where it stands now

The two AGSA special reports are complete ^1,2. Later annual audits, SIU investigations and Special Tribunal litigation produced a mix of referrals, recoveries, corrective action and matters with no adverse finding ^3,68,12.

The national status remains partly resolved. The source record does not support one total for final PPE recoveries or one final outcome for every supplier and institution as of 19 October 2026.

Timeline